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Advocates Philippines
Divorce Measure Moves in House Committee
Photo credit: Congress PH
The House Committee on Population and Family Relations has approved in principle several bills that seek to institute divorce as an alternative mode for dissolving marriages and strengthen the civil effects of church annulment.
The committee, chaired by Isabela Rep. Ian Paul Dy, gave the green light to House Bills 78, 1021, 1593, 2593, 3843, 3885, 4957, and 4998 during a meeting on Thursday.
Negros Occidental Rep. Juliet Marie de Leon Ferrer, co-author of HB 78, emphasized the importance of having a "less expensive and less cumbersome" option for couples seeking to end their marriage. Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, author of HB 78, argued that divorce should only be necessary in exceptional cases for couples with toxic and irreparably dysfunctional marriages.
HB 1593, co-authored by TINGOG Party-list Rep Jude Acidre and Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, proposes to recognize the civil effects of church annulments. If the bill becomes law, a declaration of nullity decreed by the Church will hold as much weight and have the same effect as civil annulment.
Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, author of HB 4998, voiced his support for allowing married couples to "correct the error of our jurisdiction's lack of a realistic and non-adversarial remedy." He also supported the proposal of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for cultural communities' culture and tradition to be considered in the proposed measures.
Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Gender and Development Senior Specialist Armando Orcilla Jr. stated that the measures address the recommendation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Reinstating divorce is part of the priority legislative agenda for women in the 19th Congress.
A Technical Working Group, led by Rep. Lagman, will be created to consolidate the bills into one substitute bill. With the committee's approval, the bills will now move to the plenary for further deliberation. If the measures pass both houses of Congress and are signed into law, it will provide couples with an alternative way to end marriages, and a Church annulment will have the same weight as civil annulment.
The committee, chaired by Isabela Rep. Ian Paul Dy, gave the green light to House Bills 78, 1021, 1593, 2593, 3843, 3885, 4957, and 4998 during a meeting on Thursday.
Negros Occidental Rep. Juliet Marie de Leon Ferrer, co-author of HB 78, emphasized the importance of having a "less expensive and less cumbersome" option for couples seeking to end their marriage. Meanwhile, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, author of HB 78, argued that divorce should only be necessary in exceptional cases for couples with toxic and irreparably dysfunctional marriages.
HB 1593, co-authored by TINGOG Party-list Rep Jude Acidre and Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, proposes to recognize the civil effects of church annulments. If the bill becomes law, a declaration of nullity decreed by the Church will hold as much weight and have the same effect as civil annulment.
Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, author of HB 4998, voiced his support for allowing married couples to "correct the error of our jurisdiction's lack of a realistic and non-adversarial remedy." He also supported the proposal of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) for cultural communities' culture and tradition to be considered in the proposed measures.
Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Gender and Development Senior Specialist Armando Orcilla Jr. stated that the measures address the recommendation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Reinstating divorce is part of the priority legislative agenda for women in the 19th Congress.
A Technical Working Group, led by Rep. Lagman, will be created to consolidate the bills into one substitute bill. With the committee's approval, the bills will now move to the plenary for further deliberation. If the measures pass both houses of Congress and are signed into law, it will provide couples with an alternative way to end marriages, and a Church annulment will have the same weight as civil annulment.
Feb 24, 2023
